Sammy Korgi Program Evaluation
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Transcript of Sammy Korgi Program Evaluation
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Assisting in the Education of Our Future
Sammy Korgi
Georgia Gwinnett College
English Hybrid 1102
Dr. Lilly
November 22nd 2014
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Abstract:
Henry David Thoreau in Walden supports education. However, it is not apparent in the
way most people would see it as. He views learning through life experience and changing
lifestyles, as his definition of education. In the organization Caracolí, Thoreau’s view on
education can be used to improve or give new ideas in 3 goals. The goals are hiring parents of
the children to a paying job for help in the organization, having smaller social groups within the
children in order to appreciate the natural ways, and children learning the correct work-ethic by
doing real life- labor at a young age through gardening. In the review of Walden, education can
be thought of differently than just in the commonly scholarly ways like reading, writing,
studying, and just overall schoolwork. I will capture how experience through life is a form of
education, and how it is achieved through companionship, exploration, and sustainability. 3
objectives can be accomplished in Caracolí through bringing in parents of the children (most
important people of the children’s lives) to help and become part of their upbringing, exploring
nature with small groups and focusing on how the children can grasp its true meaning/beauty,
and finding sustainable meaningful work. The true priorities and how parents manage their time,
dangerous environmental conditions, and the children having a correct work-ethic all prove to be
barriers. Finally, “Assisting in the Education of Our Future” advocates that learning with the help
of life experience through companionship, exploration and sustainability contributes to Caracolí
in helping towards the education of our children now and the future later.
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Overview:
In Walden, Thoreau is constantly practicing, observing, and teaching education. He takes
these viewpoints on education in order to fully grasp and get across its importance and value.
Thoreau wants his audience too see that education doesn’t need to be represented just in
scholarly ways; it can be portrayed through life experience. For education to be gained this way,
people must be open to looking beyond at what can better their futures and the communities.
Through companionship, exploration, and sustainability Thoreau specifically does this with
education. Although Thoreau may seem to be in isolation, he is keen on companionship and
appreciates it as much as anyone else. Undoubtedly Thoreau believes exploration of nature is
important to learning. He broadcasts this throughout Walden by venturing off into the woods. In
the “Bean-Field,” Thoreau gets after the significance of practicing sustainability while farming.
You only learn by farming repetitively, not just one time and giving up. Thoreau believes that
education in these ways can change your lifestyle for the better.
Caracolí is a non-profit organization that is based in Colombia and is a successful early
childhood development center. It focuses on education for 0-5 year old Colombian children, but
it could do more with the expansion and improvement of education methods that aren’t just
scholarly but more to do with life experience for the children. The mission of Caracolí is to
contribute to the early child’s development of Colombian children living in susceptible
conditions. El Caracolí provides comprehensive care and early education for both the children
and their parents. This charity serves as a sort of daycare that operates from 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
for approximately 390 children, and it has two different centers. The organization helps the
children that partake in it to be capable of growing Colombia into a developed country with
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significantly increased economic opportunity for the future. Caracolí stands by what the children
do in their first 5 years of life, as a child will help them become a better adult.
Like in Walden, Caracolí hopes to show that education can also be learned through
children’s life experience. Caracolí, like any organization has issues that come up in order to
attain goals. Its issues are children becoming motivated to learn in the organization if they can
just at home with their parents, not being able to appreciate and learn about nature in a big group,
and failing to learn a work-ethic through real-life labor.
Hiring parents of the children to a paying job for help in the organization
Having smaller social groups within the children in order to learn about nature
The children gaining knowledge of correct work-ethic by doing real-life labor
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Background:
The way Thoreau views education in Walden is unlike any author. He gets his point
across on it by thinking outside of the norm and obtaining an education that applies not just at the
moment, but forever to life experience. Thoreau makes it known that life is the single most
important thing we have. People should grasp all knowledge gained through education and apply
it directly to situations in life. He isn’t the most adamant on education in children towards a
single subject. He believes in education for a greater purpose. Thoreau broadcasts his outlook on
education in “Economy,” when he is speaking of Cambridge College and one says to him, “you
do not mean that students should go to work with their hands instead of their heads?”
“I mean that they (students) should not play life, or study it merely, while the community
supports them at this expensive game, but earnestly live it from beginning to end. How
could youths better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living?
Methinks this would exercise their minds as much as mathematics. If I wished a boy to
know something about the arts and sciences, for instance, I would not pursue the common
course, which is merely to send him into the neighborhood of some professor, where
anything is professed and practised but the art of life; — to survey the world through a
telescope or a microscope, and never with his natural eye; to study chemistry, and not
learn how his bread is made, or mechanics, and not learn how it is earned; to discover
new satellites to Neptune, and not detect the motes in his eyes” (38).
In the quote he gives comprehensive examples of how scholarly work doesn’t do justice in
accomplishing a ‘Thoreauvian’ education.
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Thoreau expresses how education is done this way through his bases of companionship,
exploration, and sustainability. Thoreau and companionship is regularly seen through nature, but
that doesn’t mean he is against it with people. He keeps three chairs in his house for a reason in
“Visitors”. In the chapter he says, “I have had twenty-five or thirty souls… under my roof, and
yet we often parted without being aware that we had become very near each other” (97). By
taking visitors in his house, at times, it becomes known that Thoreau is willing to engage in
companionship because it is beneficial for education in life experience to him and the people. He
wouldn’t do so if there was no reason in benefiting from it. Exploration by Thoreau is seen
profoundly in Walden. Thoreau explores throughout the woods of Walden because much can be
learned of life experience from nature. He says this of exploration, “We need the tonic of
wildness — to wade sometimes in marshes…and hear the booming of the snipe; to smell the
whispering sedge…At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things” (213).
Thoreau believes sustainability is a vital component in reaching education through life
experience. When doing a task repetitively with a certain level of integrity, it shows commitment
in learning and dedication in accomplishing a goal. All throughout Walden Thoreau lived
sustainably, while being happy without quitting. Thoreau In the chapter “Bean-Field” surpasses
the obstacles of exhausted soil from corn/beans planted earlier and woodchucks destroying the
crops. He works many days and long hours, and in the end slowly but surely makes a profit from
the bean-field due to a strong work-ethic.
It is clear that Thoreau sees that education through life experience is more valuable,
beneficial, and overall worthier than through scholarly manners. Scholarship on Walden has been
written analyzing Thoreau’s views on education through life experience. In the essay, "Growing
Beans with Thoreau," Lorna Unwin says, the focus should be more on “vocational skills” than on
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“academic study” (158). Vocational education should enhance child development and give them
the skills and knowledge to a healthy life by putting more of an effort on life experience. Overall,
there should be a ‘broader approach’ to vocational education. Alan Fox in, "Guarding What Is
Essential,” expands on this idea. He states selfishness gets us nowhere in achieving a natural
destiny. In order to educate ourselves and get nature’s true beauty we need to live life in the
easiest of ways and not complicate ourselves. “The concept of natural destiny should be held
onto by our own conservative simplistic life force in the way Thoreau and Yang Zhu did with
themselves” (369). Furthermore, Laura Smith in, “Restoring Walden Woods And The Idyll Of
Thoreau II," achieves the nature-society interaction and management of socio-ecological
systems while acknowledging that areas change due to history and others due to environmental
changes. There is a distinct relation with nature and the social environment, and over time there
is, “evidence of the changes…of nature in restoration narratives…as well as the underpinning
causes/contexts and prevailing social attitudes” (86). Knowing this increases our ability to
become aware of change in our natural habitats, and our life experience benefits from knowing
what has changed and in which way. In “the Heights of Humanity,” Douglas Hochstetler
publishes an essay which argues that, “movement can provide humanizing possibilities even
more pronounced for those subscribing to pragmatic themes” (117). He writes comprehensively
on Thoreau’s relevant life experience educational model, explaining with running and cycling
how the strenuous mood can open possibilities for’ recovering our humanity.’ Hochstetler
compares Thoreau coming to live on Walden Pond for two years, to an athlete going to train as
leaving a part of something else to gain life experience, like freedom, agency, and creativity.
Educating oneself through life experience or education in the ‘Thoreauvian’ way is a goal
for many to complete. An example would be teaching a young child to learn in this matter. The
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organization of Caracolí does their best in doing so for children, but also their parents. Caracolí
was founded in 2010 through its founding member To Love is To Give (TLTG), another non-
profit organization. TLTG then helped recruit the local board of directors, which brings the
connection as to why I choose this organization. My aunt Maria Elisa Korgi is happily honored
to be part of the board of directors of Caracolí. She says, “I feel privileged to be a part of such an
extraordinary organization that helps children from the ages 0-5 here in Yumbo, Valle del Cauca.
I love my job and being able to be responsible for such young children through educational and
nutritional ways that will lead them to eventually becoming capable of continuing the growth of
Colombia. Our mission is to contribute to the early child development of Colombian children
living in susceptible conditions” (M.E. Korgi).
Caracolí is a pre-school/daycare that operates from the early morning to late afternoon. In
Yumbo, Valle del Cauca, there is no pre-school for children, like there is here in every city in
America, so to have a program that does this says volumes about the organization because it is
unheard off in the city. Caracolí receives their money from the government for the most part, but
donations have started to become more popular. The organization has started to reach more fame
not only in Colombia, but throughout Latin America. As mentioned earlier, the organization
serves children from the ages of 0-5. This is so because they feel that the age gap is crucial for
the brain development of social, logical, and intellectual ways of a child’s life. The children in
Caracolí are brought in based on economical statuses of their families. Poverty is what mostly
generates the recruitment of the children. Caracolí does not in the least bit of ways tune out the
parents of the children when they are brought in during the hours. They maintain contact with
them throughout the day via phone calls and visitations. Incorporating the parents of the children
is essential for the life experience of the children; it shows that they care about them while they
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are away. Once the children enter the organization they come together with instructors and are
put in groups of 20 depending on age. There are all sorts of departments that exist in levels:
Board of Directors, psychologists, nurses, accountants, reading, and mathematics teachers
(www.globalgiving.org).
Recently, according to the age of the child, Caracolí has begun to have outdoor activities.
The organization came up with a ‘green zone,’ where children can go and be around nature with
their parents and/or instructors aiding them in the process. The children take turns doing this, and
are put in smaller groups to keep an eye on better. Specifically, there is a gardening area and the
children are allowed to go and plant a crop of their choice. This activity gives them a different,
more enlightening form of education that can be applied to life experience at a young age (M.E.
Korgi).
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Evaluation:
Caracolí’s work brings benefits for children in the long scheme of life. However, they
could do better by thinking of ways to enhance children’s life experience. Room for
improvement will always exist and is not a bad thing at all. It simply gives constructive criticism
for the betterment of an overall cause, in this case Caracolí’s.
The absolute most important figure in a child’s life is their parents. Caracolí does do a
good job of keeping in touch with them during its hours of operation, but it could improve by
hiring parents to a paying job. This would do wonders for their children’s life experience. At a
young age of 0-5 a child learns quickly who important figures are through them being around
often. It gets in their minds from the start, while their brain is developing, that those important
figures are their parents and they care about them. As they grow older in life it sticks with them
because of experiences they had at a younger age with them. Getting across to parents how the
children would benefit from having them around is how to reach this goal. Firstly, the reason
children are even cared for by Caracolí is because of low incomes or unemployment of parents.
For that reason they aren’t able to support their children sufficiently during the hours of 8-5. By
hiring parents to paying jobs in the organization, it would improve their economic problems, and
their children will know early on in life that they are important. The success of improvement can
be measured in the positive results said above, and started as soon as possible. Of course barriers
come into effect for Caracolí if they were to achieve incorporating parents. The children would
have to become first priority in their lives. If they are, parents must be willing to alter their own
time management and change daily routines.
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A second improvement Caracolí can do is to have smaller social groups within the
children’s in order to learn about nature. Being able to grasp nature’s true beauty is essential at a
young age for children. Going on nature walks in smaller groups can accomplish this goal. The
children would be more alert to their surroundings, such as big trees, spiny bushes, crusty leaves,
and possible insects or animals. By being alert, concentration rapidly increases. The learning
aspect of nature intensifies because the children are better focused than they would have been
had they, for example, gone on a nature walk with a bigger group of students. In a big group of
children going to observe nature, distractions become more of a problem. The children would
talk to one another, and not be able to maximize the life experience available to them through
nature. To measure the success of this goal there would be more interest in the children about
nature. For example, they would ask questions, touch natural objects, and their vision would be
more widespread. As soon as Caracolí feels the children are mature enough to truly grasp
nature’s beauty they should start implementing this goal. To complete this goal the child needs to
understand the importance of knowing true beauty of nature towards their life experience. An
obvious barrier that would prevent Caracolí in accomplishing its goal would be environmental
conditions. If conditions outside aren’t safe then the children shouldn’t partake in any sort of
activities there. Conditions that wouldn’t allow going outside could range from, extremely high
or low temperatures to storms.
A third improvement Caracolí can take into account is the children gaining knowledge of
the correct work-ethic by doing real-life labor. The organization does indeed have a ‘green zone,’
which includes a gardening area for the children. However, it is just set out as a fun activity for
the children, and doesn’t include any education on gaining the correct work-ethic that may be
included in gardening. If Caracolí can teach the children correct work-ethic in an activity as
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simple as gardening, it will apply directly to their life experience. On when great effort is put in,
positive results follow. When the children focus on work-ethic in gardening, rather than just
doing it for the activity in itself, much more can be gained. The children would know from a
young age that when hard labor is put in the chances are more than likely that results will be
encouraging. This strategy would be a stepping stone for the children, eventually adding to the
economic growth in Colombia as they grow older. Caracolí could achieve this improvement by
supervising the children one-on one as they garden. To measure results the organization could
follow up with the children as they begin to work on real-life labor. Results from that can be
translated directly to the work-ethic they learned at the age of four, which is when they should
begin applying this goal. A barrier to this goal would be the children just wanting to have fun
and not caring at all for gaining correct work-ethic. This could arise as a problem because the
children are undeniably young and enjoy just playing around.
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Conclusion:
“Assisting in the Education of Our Future” proposes the importance of gaining an
education at a young age through life experience and the usefulness of it in the future. The
organization of Caracolí works for the greatest of causes. Their work contributes to the
children’s education now and helping the growth of Colombia’s future later. Through an
education that includes life experience the children may not recognize at the moment what they
are incurring, but in the future it will be sure to pay dividends. Alejandra Sanchez, a parent
whose son is taken care of by Caracolí says she, “is thankful for all that the organization has
done for her son in terms of developing his education in the correct manner” (“Somos El
Caracolí”). All of Thoreau’s ideas, but particularly life experience in Walden can be applicable
to anything and if understood correctly used in advancement. With Thoreau’s concepts of
companionship, exploration, and sustainability Caracolí can accomplish educating the children
through ways that have to do with life experience more.
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Works Cited
Unwin, Lorna. "Growing Beans With Thoreau: Rescuing Skills And Vocational Education From
The UK's Deficit Approach." Oxford Review Of Education 30.1 (2004): 147-160.
Academic Search Complete. Web.
Fox, Alan. "Guarding What Is Essential: Critiques Of Material Culture In Thoreau And Yang
Zhu." Philosophy East & West 58.3 (2008): 358-371. Academic Search Complete. Web.
Smith, Laura. "Restoring Walden Woods And The Idyll Of Thoreau II: A Recent
Historical Tracing Of Changing And Renegotiated Restoration Goals." Ecological
Restoration 32.1 (2014): 86-95. Academic Search Complete. Web.
Hochstetler, Douglas, and Peter Matthew Hopsicker. "The Heights Of Humanity: Endurance
Sport And The Strenuous Mood." Journal Of The Philosophy Of Sport 39.1 (2012): 117-
135. Academic Search Complete. Web.
"To Love Is To Give." Overview of To Love Is To Give. GlobalGiving Foundation, n.d. Web.
Korgi, Maria Elisa. Personal Interview. 4 Nov. 2014.
"Somos El Caracolí.” Caracolí. Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 17 May. 2013. Web.
Thoreau, Henry David. Walden Civil Disobedience and Other Writings. Ed. William Rossi. New
York: W.W Norton & Company, 2008. Print.